FEATURES
BitScope A Mixed-Signal Capture Engine —Norman Jackson
Has your office become so cluttered that you can’t find your oscilloscope or logic analyzer? No problem, Norman will help you build a low-cost, mixed-signal capture engine that connects to your computer via the serial port. pg. 12  (code)

Simulating Micro-Controlled Systems —Mike Smith & Jason Wudkevich
When you’re short of cash, you’re always looking for less expensive ways to build embedded systems. If you’re like Mike and Jason, you’ll use virtual devices to test and debug your system and its peripherals. pg. 22

Designing for Smart Cards Part 2: Practical Implenentation —Bobby Crouch
The difficulty in smart-card design always hinges on security. After showing us how to implement transactions, Bobby walks us through the memory authentication procedures that keep the cards shipshape and secure. pg. 60

Vector-to-Step Conversions An Introductory Tutorial —Don Lancaster
Whether in video, graphics, or automation, vector-to-step conversion is a critical computing need. Don takes a look at some of the factors that enable you to keep those steps as fast and smooth as possible. pg. 66

COLUMNISTS
MicroSeries—Stuart Ball
Build a Serial Port PROM Programmer Part 1: Hardware Construction
Stuart’s low-cost PROM programmer takes Intel-format and raw ASCII hex data, holds it in an internal 64-KB buffer, and programs it into an EPROM or PIC processor via a serial port. He starts off by focusing on hardware issues. pg. 70 (code)

From the Bench—Jeff Bachiochi
Transformerless Power Conversion
Power to the project! The question is: How to get it there? Jeff’s tired of wall warts, so instead he checks into AC and shows you how to eliminate the transformer via a Harris voltage regulator. pg. 78

Silicon Update—Tom Cantrell
Power Trip
You thought B&B stood for "Bed & Breakfast." Not anymore. Tom has redefined the term to mean "Brains & Brawn." Run this through the chip translator and you get "smart power chips." pg. 82

EMBEDDED PC
Interprocess Communication Using Anonymous Pipes—Ernie Deel
While you can link DOS and Win32 applications using a virtual device that creates a wormhole between the systems, Ernie proposes a much simpler way—the anonymous pipes already native to any Win32 environment. pg. 36 (code)

FAT32—File System for Data-Intensive Applications—Edward Steinfeld
When used with contiguous files, the FAT32 file system enables you to read and write high-speed datastreams to disk. Edward demonstrates this with multichannel audio input which he needs to edit and play back in real time. pg. 42

Real-Time PC
Data Acquisition —Ingo Cyliax
Collecting data in real time is tricky. You have to consider the response to real-time inputs as well as the delay introduced by data buffers. Ingo gets us up to speed on possible solutions,including DSP- and FPGA-based PC/104 modules. pg. 49

Applied PCs
Debugging & the Net186 —Fred Eady
Sure, for basic debugging, you can fix this baby with AMD’s E86MON. But, if what you need to do is more challenging, you might want to check out a full-fledged debugging package like Paradigm’s. Listen up while Fred walks you through it. pg. 55

The Best Way to Find What You Need!
Categorized listings of companies and a brief overview of what they offer with a link to their site.